Project Summary
Grantee	: Mus Women’s Roof Association
Purpose	: Fighting early marriages in Mus
Location	: Mus
Grant Amount	: 120.000 TL
Project Partner	: Mus Directorate of National Education
Period	: 13 July 2015 – 15 July 2016
Status	: Completed
Project Year	: 2015

Background

Girls are married off due to patriarchal family structures, cultural values etc. and this results in high school drop outs in Mus. Girls don’t know how to resist and use their rights against this problem.

Project Goals

• In Mus:
  • Girls under 18 years old who have the risk of early marriage will be informed about children’s rights and disadvantages of early marriages.
  • Guidance counselors and school managers will be encouraged to prevent early marriages through trainings.
  • Girls’ attendance rates will be followed by guidance counselors.
  • Information will be shared on the disadvantages of early marriages citywide.

Project Results

• 36 guidance counselors in schools participated in the 16-week training program on women’s human rights.
• These guidance counselors organized workshops on children’s rights and disadvantages of early marriages and reached 3.636 girls aged between 10 and 15.
• A story book called “Princesses Who Deserted Their Tales” was prepared to be used in school workshops and a competition was organized for children to let them write the end of stories. There were 72 applications for the competition.
• Meetings on the importance of educating girls and the disadvantages of early marriages were organized in 12 schools with the participation of 600 parents and the project was introduced.
• 43 home visits were made by the project team in order to locate the girls who are under the risk of early marriages.

Testimonials

"I would like to be a nurse in the future. A lot of girls like me also want to be a nurse. There are people around us who were married early or got engaged. I want to stop this."

Project Beneficiary

"I thought that no one was caring about girls before I learnt about my rights. But now I know that girls are cared about."

Project Beneficiary